Third party validations, recommendations, positive reviews by experts and past  travelers are arguably the best marketing tools for travel consultants, tour operators etc.

My take is that several factors have made it harder for travel consultants, tour operators etc. to get maximum marketing mileage from recommendations.  The most important of these in my view is Trip Advisor.  Here’s why:

1.  Trip Advisor dominates the international traveler’s review scene.

2.  Trip Advisor only takes reviews for hotels, restaurants, vacation rentals, attractions and citys

3.  Reviews of Travel consultants, tour operators etc are only possible in Trip Advisor  forums, which are not user friendly for reviewers or potential clients.

4.  Reviews on Trip Advisor are anonymous, which hurts credibility and makes them subject to gaming.

5.  There is no other platform for reviews for  that Travel consultants, tour operators etc. comes close to Trip Advisors reach for reviews for hotels.

6.  To sum up Trip Advisor has taken control of Travel Feedback, but has not given Travel consultants, tour operators etc. a face.

The CNT Specialists List in my view is extremely valuable as an expert recommendation, but of very limited value as a platform for travelers reviews.  Here’s why:

1.  A relatively small percent of the reviews that the Travel consultants, tour operators etc receive from clients are posted on the list.

2.  The high value of Wendy’s recom-mendation means that even very positive reviews have less relative impact  than they would have if they stood alone on a separate platform.

3.  Reviews are displayed with least recent first.

4.  If they exist there is no way for the reader to find negative reviews and this makes positive reviews less credible

Reviews that are sent directly to travel consultants, tour operators are also of limited value.  Here’s why: Relatively few of them end up on platforms with wider distribution than our own website, social media platforms and mailing lists.

1.  Readers assume that we cherry pick and only publish positive reviews.

2.  If they exist there is no way for the reader to find negative reviews.

3.  There is no way to publish a dialog between past clients and tour consultants the way you can between past guests and hoteliers on Trip Advisor.

(The information below is based on information from Costa Rica Expeditions and a few other companies with which we share information.  It would be a big help to know to what extent it applies to other companies.)

Facebook is also of limited value.  Here’s why:

1.  Facebook has a lot more users than Trip Advisor.

2.  Fan pages may be ineffective for Travel consultants, tour operators etc. and even when they work they are not effective as platform for credible wide distribution of reviews.

3.  Posts on personal pages may well be the largest and most effective source of travel recommendations in existence but they are impossible to aggregate (for anybody but Facebook) and they are only available to the friends of the people who post them.

So what should we do?  Here’s what:

Since Trip Advisor dominates feedback but does not give us a face, we are going to develop a Feedbook application to get our face back. That is….

1.  A Facebook Application on which clients of selected Travel consultants, tour operators etc. are invited to post their reviews.

2.  The travel consultants, tour operators etc. would be selected on the minium criteria of having enough confidence in the quality of their service and their ability to respond to negative feedback  that they would commit to inviting all clients (even certifiabley psychotic clients from hell and clients engaging in social media blackmail) to post their feedback on the app. More on selection of participants below.

3.  The selected Travel consultants, tour operators etc. would agree to a policy of not deleting feedback from the app except in extreme cases of liable or obscenity.

4.  The app would provide for each company to have their own branded section where their feedback and responses would be posted.

5.  The selected travel consultants, tour operators etc. will be able to give their clients a choice of posting their feedback on the app or sending their to the Travel consultants, tour operators etc.and have the Travel consultants, tour operators etc. post for them.

6.  The homepage of the app would have all the posts in chronological order and navigation by destination, Travel consultants, tour operators etc.and type of criticism

7.  Tentative catagories for type of criticism are:

a.  Praise

b. Constructive criticism

c.  Complaints

d. Bitter Complaints.

8.  The app will be public for viewing, but only available to member travel consultants, tour operators etc. and their clients for posting.

9.  The app will allow users to link to their personal FB pages so that posts on the app are pubished on their pages and vice-versa.

1.The app will have journal templates that will allow users to post their journal entries and photos in a format that is compatible with online printing services so they can have a physical memory book of their experience.

2.There is a clear possibility that who gets to participate and how participants are chosen will become a touchy issue.  I would rather not get hung up on that for now and focus for the moment on whether the concept is valid and if it is, the best way to implement it.

This is a far a we have gotten with the concept so far.  The present situation with the app is as follows:

1.  We have had a full time developer working on the app, since February.

2.  We just hired two half time developers and one full time developer who will start the first of June.

3.  We have a very preliminary Alpha version on line that we are loading with our backlog of feedback.

4.   We expect to have a version Beta Version for you to look at by the end of June

5.  In the meantime we very much need your responses to the following questions:

a.  Is the concept clearly expressed?

i.    If not, what is  unclear about it? What are are your questions?

ii.    If you understand the concept, do you think it is worth doing?

1.  If so why?

2.  If not why not?

b. How can it be improved?

c.  What are your other questions or comments.

Email exchange with Guy Rubin:

From: Michael Kaye

OF CLIENT REVIEWS

See me response interspersed in bold:.

On May 12, 2011, at 4:48 AM, Guy Rubin wrote:

Hi Michael Questions:

1.       How will clients be notified?  We would send a mail to our own clients informing them of the app?

What we are planning to so is send an email that is very similar to the one we send now (Subject How Was Your Vacation?)  but give the past guests three options

1. Reply by email and give us permission to post their reply in the app.

2.Reply by email and not give us permission to post their reply in the app.

3.Post in the app.

2. Are our clients the ONLY PEOPLE who can post on our feedback page?  Thus, a competitor who’s a member travel consultant cannot access and spam feedback our section.

One of the features of the app that I did not mention is going to be a forum-like functionality that allows us to respond to the client reviews and the client to respond to us.  The hope is that the dialog will be interesting and help get us a wide readership of potential clients for the page.  Given this my present take would be to allow all members to weigh in on the conversation.

3. Are there safeguards to minimize feedback fraud of the type where a member travel consultant floods his own page with positive feedback?

Two safeguards:

1.    Selection.  Hopefully we will not invite anyone who would do that.  One of the 14 criteria we have for people we work with at Costa Rica Expeditions is that we want to work with people who naturally do the right thing so that we do not have to make a lot of rules.  The idea would be to members as well.

2.    Post cannot be anonymous.  First and last names required to post.  This should make it much harder to get away  with phony posts for long enough to do real damage.  If we catch someone gaming the system we throw their ass off the app.

4.       FB App => Reviewer must have a FB account?

Anyone who posts or reads posts on the app will have to have a Facebook account. We will walk people through the steps to do this. We will be able to post for people who do not have a Facebook account.

5.       Can travel agents provide feedback (as representative of a block of clients) as well as individual clients?

We had not contemplated that, but it would be easy enough to include if their were demand.

6.       We have over the years, assembled a lot of bonafide client and agent feedback.  IS there a way to upload this onto the app?  Or is it only for registered Facebook members going forward?

We just  uploaded  backlog beginning in January.  We are still working out some issues about date of travel and date of post, but they are solvable.

Guy, I just replied to you because I did not feel comfortable having this go out to the rest of the group without you permission. These are important considerations that I would like to be able to share if it is ok with you.  Please let me know.

Hi Michael

Thanks for your sensitivity.  It is a little bizarre for me to discuss a possible social media strategy with my competitor, but hey – it’s the 2.0 thing, I guess, and at the end of the day we are serving different people in different segments.

Guy

I expect to be talking about this with Wendy  next week and the posting about it on the Specialists FB page which will bring in my competitors. If we can be on page that is promoted to the clients of many different specialists and companies from around the world, it is worth it to share with my competitors even if we are competing for the same segment.

Email Exchange with Kristen MacQueen, WOWCuba.

On May 16, 2011, at 7:57 AM, WoWCuba – Kristen wrote:

See below.

a.     Is the concept clearly expressed?

i.      If not, what is  unclear about it? What are are your questions?

Kristen’s Question:

Would the feedback questions be the same for all the tour operators/travel consultants who are being reviewed or would this be something customizable?

Michael’s Answer:

Customizable and easily changeable by non-techie users.   RAMY CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG ABOUT THIS.

ii.      If you understand the concept, do you think it is worth doing?

1.      If so why?

Kristen’s response:

Yes, Yes, Yes. I think being able to direct potential clients to a reliable, balanced place where they can read multiple, recent reviews from your real customers is invaluable. Removing the element of anonymity (eliminating any non-customers from the mix) and putting all the feedback together in one place for public viewing is a great idea.

Only companies that are truly interested in establishing a dialogue with their past clients and learning from them to continue to deliver the highest quality holiday possible would want to participate in this program.

Having a bit of experience following the TA and TT travel forums over the past year I agree that the information on forums is often manipulated and oftentimes the discussion is not in-depth enough to be of any true value to potential travelers. This sounds like a great alternative to me.

2.      If not why not?

The only thing that I’m still mulling over is anonymity. Mostly because some of our US-based clients prefer not to divulge information on their travel to Cuba. I suppose that in cases like that then in lieu of posting their review from their personal Facebook account, they would have their tour operators/travel consultant post on their behalf. And in those that cases, the posts would be made presumably by the App administrator. Does this reduce the value of the feedback to the potential reader since it’s now anonymous?

Michael’s Response:

Cuba is a special case and may well need exceptional policies for a while.  Since as Winston Churchill said, “The US alway does the right thing….”  Sometime in our life times we ,may not have to deal with this.

Sounds like things are coming along nicely. Thanks for keeping us in the loop!

Kristen

Email exchange with Virginia Irruita:

Micheal,

Love the idea and love the structure and love you working on this.

One comment… the cathegories you mention are a bit negative. I would have an extra one thus Prase being one, the super – prase or above and beyond or however you want to call them will be the positive. Then “constructive criticism will be neutral the thaw complaints and bitter complaints

1.      Tentative catagories for type of criticism are:

a.       Extra Praise (or however you want to call it)

b.      Praise

c.       Constructive criticism

d.      Complaints

e.       Bitter Complaints.

Gracias. Besos

Hi Virginia,

Wonderful that you like this.  Great idea.  How about “Embarrassingly Flattering Praise”  Wendy liked it too.  Meeting with her today. Can I share this with everybody else on the list.

M

Ha ha ha

Share with whoever you want but… please, lets look for a better name.

Give my love to Wendy

Besos to you and your lovely wife. Virginia

“Praise as if it was written by my Jewish Mother”?

M

Virginia wrote:

Y que quieres decir con “Praise as if it was written by my Jewish Mother”?  Sorry, no entiendo!!

Michael wrote:

En la mitologia de Los EU, las madres judias creen que los hijos son perfectos. Por ende los elogios son siempre muy exagerados.  Si un chiquito de 5 años canta en la ducha, la madre habla de Placido Domingo y Luciano Pavarotti.

Estamos todos juntos en Nueva York.  Yolanda y Hilton mandan besos igual que yo.  Michael

Virginia wrote:

Gracias mil!!! Ahora lo entiendo… loco!!

Besos a los 3!

Michael wrote:

Siguimos pensando en como decir súper praise.

Virginia wrote:

Above and Beyond

Aunque super praise me gusta… pero igual es spanglish!!

Michael wrote:

Me gusta Above and Beyond pero nos mete una demanda la compania, And Beyond.

Michael wrote:

Virginia,

We had dinner with a great wordsmith friend last night who gave me the answer. “Raves!”

Exchange with Mei Zhang :

Michael

I think it’s a GREAT idea. I like the fact that it’s all in the open. Facebook is real enough that it can actually be kind of difficult to game.  A few questions:

Great Questions, Mei.  My responses are interspersed in bold.

a. Have you tested this idea with actual travelers/clients? My feeling is that in the luxury travel segment, most clients are not comfortable with FB’s intrusion into their privacy nor with FB technology.  What’s your sense from clients so far? (Don’t get me wrong, regardless of current client response, I think this effort is a must-do).

I have not tested the idea on actual travelers.  I am not inclined to because I would not trust responses to the idea. We might possibly do a paper version of the app and test it, but my bias at the moment is to  wait until we have a functional enough online version to be able ask travelers to use it or give us permission to post their feedback on it,  I fully expect that there will be resistance, objections and qualms.  I’m betting that we can show upscale travelers that it is in their interest to participate.

b. Many of us probably already have a section of our website that’s dedicated to customer feedback, have you developed a plug-in tool to allow the FB feedback to imported into company websites as well?  Particularly in China’s case, Facebook is not available within China, so we have needs to keep the feedback available on our own site for China based clients.

I had not thought of that, but it seems to me that it would be very feasible. RAMY, PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG ON THIS. As with all these things it will come down to the amount of developer time needed and priorities.

c. I’d be curious to hear if you and Wendy chatted about how to leverage both the FB app and the Truth.travel feedbacks. I think Truth.travel feedback has a lot of credibility as it is hosted by a third party. I’d love to see more synergies between the two.

I could not agree more about truth.travel.  Wendy and I had a very encouraging conversation.  We agreed to look for synergies.  To get into specific we’ll have to see how both this app and truth.travel evolve.

Mei

See my responses below in bold:

Exchange with Marc Telio:

All I can say is wow.

I will respond.  I’ll need to read it more than twice to digest it all.

I like it.  It scares me but I like it.  I’m confident enough to do it.  For the one trip each year where everything goes wrong, we will deal with it.  I’ve got nothing to hide and our conflict resolution is excellent and fair.  But we all have that client who refuses to be happy.  Screw it though, the vast majority will have praise.

While there are some dangers in it being public, one advantage is that if you are handling a complaint fairly and the client unreasonably refuses to be satisfied, if it is public other clients can weigh in to defend you.

And I agree.  Choosing the people to be involved can be a touchy issue.  Something tells me that’s also where the entrepreneurialism pays off.  In other words, SOMEONE has to play god.

I really want to focus on designing the best possible tool before we get into how we are going to decide who can and cannot be involved in something that is still in a very preliminary stage of development.  That said, your reference to “SOMEONE” playing god is too tempting for someone as undisciplined and foolish as I am to resist.  My very personal take on the subject is that God was able to do a superb job pulling off the creation in seven days because he did not have an installed base and did not have to work in committee.  After the creation we should consider another form of governance.

Something else that comes to mind.  Ideally the traveler has a grid, checklist, easy user interface and categorized types of feedback.  Structured.  Not just unfair one-liners.  More than Praise/Constructive/Complaint/Bitter complaint.  Structure that gives the reading audience a credible and predictable format.

My take is that there are two competing values here, both of which are valid. “Structure that gives the reading audience a credible and predictable format.” is an important design criteria.  The problem with it at the beginning is that we will either have to get everybody to agree on a structure or to buy in even though they do not agree with the imposed structure. My present bais is to let every one choose there own structure.  We sacrifice usability for the reading audience, but with time we will all see what works and what doesn’t, and naturally move toward a common structure that is better than any structure we would have at the beginning.  At least that is my hope

More to come, but it’s exciting.  I remember, a few years ago, after hearing about my business, you told me straight out “You have to get recommendations”, and I didn’t.  Not yet.  We’re working that into the new website.

Talk soon,

Marc

Exchange with Bill Abbott:

Hi Michael,

I’ll have to give you a call and get you to explain to me the details of all of this slowly, in short sentences, and using very small words — you know I am getting somewhat older and don’t grasp complicated new technologies that easily anymore, but more importantly, I know you are even older (and on several occasions that I can remember, delusional).

Having said that, please know I have in fact often theorized that it would be a very powerful tool to make available all one’s client reviews, both positive and negative. So I can definitely say the subject intrigues me. Having said that, it does however seem problematic–for many of the reasons already stated, but also because I see the potential that you would be gratuitously sharing your precious client list with at least one 3rd party and maybe even with the world.

Keep including me in the email stream even though I’m embarrassed that “FB apps” and “Truth.travel feedbacks” might as well be Cyrillic to me at this point.

Kudos on the effort.

Bill

Michael wrote